The GPhC Council has agreed to these changes to the requirements for entry to accredited independent prescribing courses after carefully considering feedback from a public consultation held in 2021.
The changes mean that currently-registered pharmacists and newly-qualified pharmacists joining the register over the next few years will be able to begin an independent prescriber course when they have demonstrated readiness, rather than simply completing a specified period of practise.
The aim of the changes is to help meet the demand for more pharmacist independent prescribers from health services and patients.
To meet the new requirements:
- course providers will be required to assess the quality of the applicant’s previous experience, to make sure that pharmacists have the necessary skills and experience before starting the course
- applicants must identify an area of clinical or therapeutic practice on which to base their learning
- pharmacy professionals must meet the learning outcomes specified in the accredited course before they can be annotated as a prescriber
Consultation feedback
The overwhelming majority of stakeholder organisations, including the Chief Pharmaceutical Officers, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the statutory education bodies, were in favour of removing the two-year time requirement for entry to free-standing pharmacist independent prescribing training, with a smaller number of organisations and a larger minority of individuals not in favour of the change.
A key issue raised was the importance of independent prescribers receiving appropriate support in the first few years after they successfully gain their qualification. The GPhC Council agreed that the new Post-Registration Assurance of Practice Advisory Group should take this work forward to ensure there is proper governance and support for independent prescribers.
Another issue raised was the limited number of designated prescribing practitioners available to supervise pharmacists undertaking the independent prescriber course. We are working closely with the statutory education bodies (Health Education England, Health Education and Improvement Wales and NHS Education Scotland) and other partners to explore innovative supervisory models to help make sure there is adequate supervision capacity (including designated prescribing practitioners) to supervise pharmacists undertaking independent prescriber training.
The strategic education bodies have begun to address pharmacist IP capacity by analysing the additional supervision capacity needed in each country and are commissioning additional training places.
Next steps
We will be producing further guidance with the input of our Education and Training Advisory Group to help providers to understand what they must do to check each applicant has the necessary experience, skills and attributes. We will then confirm when the changes will come into effect.
The new Post-Registration Assurance of Practice Advisory Group that we are jointly establishing with the PSNI will also consider what further support and oversight should be put in place for pharmacist independent prescribers, to provide further assurance to patients and the public that they are practising safely and effectively, particularly in their first few years as prescribers.